Daughter
by Leena Tauros
Summary: Lilly's spell did more than protect Harry Potter; it acted as a mirror, ripping Voldemort's soul apart, from which sprang a fragment that took the form of a child. Dumbledore put the child into the double agent Snape's care. And whats this about a sphinx?
1. Chapter 1

_Crack_. Two figures apparated out of thin air at Spinner's End at twilight. A tall figure and a small one that could have been a quarter of his height stood linked at the hands, the warm summer wind gently whipping at their clothes. Had the residents of Spinner's End been awake, they probably would have thought that these two were dressed in a very strange manner. But the residents of Spinner's End were all members of the working class of Muggles; boring people with ordinary lives that were devoid of any sort of imagination or excitement. The usual nine to five schedule had them entirely convinced that there was nothing more to life than the boxed environment they lived in and their repetitive robotic schedule. Nothing amazing ever happened here.

Dense smog covered the town and hung close to the houses on a seemingly empty street, seeping inside the numerous cracks and open windows. The strangely matched pair headed for one of these dilapidated brick houses lined up in a row, the tall man sweeping gracefully and the little girl walking hurriedly, tiny feet trying to keep up. As soon as the visitors had reached their mark, the man took out a wand and with a sweeping motion summoned a fresh gust of wind to clear away the haze and shut all of the windows in the vicinity.

_Knock_. No answer. Knock again. The door opened a crack; an eye obscured in stifling darkness looked out. The contrast of the last moments of golden twilight and the airless gloom from within the house was overwhelming.

"Severus," the wizard said with a warm smile. The door opened and the tall wizard swept in. All of the living quarters were obscured by dusk comparable to the finest Peruvian Darkness Powder that was quickly becoming so popular these days. A solitary candle melted almost to the base was flickering on top of an enormous book case bent inward from a hefty amount of books placed on it. "Let's get some light in here," said the wizard.

With another flick of his wand, the chandeliers were lit and a soft glow was cast upon the humble abode. Snape's quarters were almost empty other than a couple of bookcases and some rickety furniture that stood against the darkened windows.

"You really should get some more light in here Severus. It's not good to live in the dark." More light was summoned at once.

The tall old wizard was enveloped by a certain mysterious air about him, holding the hand of what looked like a toddler. The small girl stood pigeon-toed, her eyes glassy and unfocused. She looked fragile and detached.

Severus Snape walked to the middle of the living room and sat down, gesturing for Dumbledore to do the same. "Come Vittoria," he said with a smile and a calming tone. She looked up at him and allowed him to sweep her to the couch, but wouldn't let go of his hand. When they were situated comfortably, her gaze drifted off again, her eyes becoming unfocused once more.

Dumbledore turned his attention to Snape. His face was blank, pale, sunken. It seemed as though he hadn't seen the light of days in years. His hair was unkempt from the infinite number of times he had tangled his fingers in it, his black robes that were always kept so neat were wrinkled and untidy. "Severus, I hope you got my owl and that our arrival wasn't a complete surprise." Snape gave a curt nod. "There has been a slight change of plans. I had planned to come see you alone, but our visit together couldn't have been helped."

Snape's eyes wandered to the child.

"This is Vittoria."

At the mention of her name, the little girl looked at Dumbledore. He smiled at her gently. "She needs a place to stay and a strong presence in her life to lead her in the right direction." Dumbledore's trademark penetrating gaze surveyed right through him.

After the silence that followed, Dumbledore decided to switch his approach. "How have you been?" he asked intently. "I haven't seen or heard from you in almost a month. I'm concerned."

Snape stared at the older wizard. He finally found his voice. "I will be in teaching condition by the beginning of the school year."

"That's not what I am concerned about."

Snape started. "I don't know what to say to you Dumbledore."

"You're grieving, I understand," said the older wizard.

Snape gave an involuntary twitch. "Grieving?" His posture suddenly came back. He drew himself to his full height, his eyes filled with fury. "She's dead! Lily Evans is dead!" He grabbed at his long hair in anguish like a mad man. "What do I have to live for?"

"Is this remorse, Severus?" the look in Dumbledore's electric blue eyes hardened. "You gave me your word that you would do whatever it takes to clear your conscience not even two months ago. If you truly loved her, you will do whatever it takes."

Snape shook in grief as Dumbledore continued. "Now calm yourself, we must ensure that both you and the future will be provided for," he said more kindly this time. Dumbledore reached out to Severus, put a calming hand on his shoulder and pushed him back into his seat.

Snape regained control of himself, mastered his breathing. Dumbledore looked at Vittoria; the child was staring blankly into space once more. "You might be wondering why I brought Vittoria here."

Snape nodded. "She has no family. She is too young to be sent to Hogwarts. And," Dumbledore's eyes slid onto Snape's again, "she exhibits qualities that would make her dangerous to be put into a Muggle orphanage." He looked for Snape's reaction.

Finally a realization hit him. "Me? Dumbledore…" he stammered. "I have no… I'm not… I am in no position to be taking care of a child!"

"That's not true Severus, I feel that you should indeed be able to and be great at," it looked like he was about to interrupt, "caring for this child. I believe that you and Vittoria would both benefit from each others' company in many positive ways. You will learn from her and she - in turn - from you."

Severus Snape was now looking at Vittoria. "But… but what about my special assignment? It's not like I can just stop whenever I want to, Albus…"

Dumbledore looked stern. "I have thought things through, Severus. As you know I don't do things without reason. Vittoria is now your responsibility along with your assignment. I have affirmed her papers; she is in your care now. Remember, you gave me your word."

Snape was lost for words. Dumbledore softened his expression and took Vittoria's hand in his. "Vittoria, I would like you to meet someone." Her big empty eyes were fixed on Dumbledore again. "This is Severus Snape. You will now be in his care. Please take care of him as well," he said smiling.

Vittoria's eyes found Snape. She looked at him for a full minute, taking in all details of this new acquaintance, then slowly got to her little feet and fumbled over to Snape's chair. She put her little hand on his big pale one and looked up into his large dark eyes.

"There now, everything will be alright," said Dumbledore soothingly, more to Snape than the little girl. He stood up to leave.

Snape's tongue was stuck to the roof of his mouth. He patted her hand absentmindedly and stood up and followed Dumbledore to the door.

"I…"

"If you're worried about the money, I have already visited Gringotts."

"No… I… Are you sure?"

"Sure I'm sure. You'll do fine, Severus. Good bye Vittoria."

"But how will you know that I'll be a good enough father?" he said to the wizard's retreating back. No answer followed.

Snape stood at the open door for awhile, staring into the wake of the wizard, not knowing what to do. Finally he forced himself to turn and look at the little girl. She stood there, pigeon-toed, as fragile as ever, staring at him with her big dark eyes. He heaved a sigh and came back into the room.

He stared at the child taking in all of her features. At most she looked to be about two years of age, with big brown eyes and olive skin. Her dark hair was hanging down her back and she was wearing some poorly chosen combination of Muggle clothing.

"Vittoria. The Italian version of Victoria. Feminine form of _Victorius_ in Latin, directly meaning 'victory'. A great witch in the 4th century had your name." The large brown eyes were taking him in as well. "Do you understand? Of course you don't, you're only two!" he clapped a hand to his forehead. He felt the small hand on his again. He looked down and saw her nod at him.

"Very well Vittoria."

Dumbledore had a curious if not an unorthodox way of doing things. Severus Snape had calmed down. He now had a purpose. He was steady in his decisions.


	2. Chapter 2

Four years later, Snape stood wide eyed, aghast in Dumbledore's office. His imposing figure was draped in a black traveling cloak that had just whipped through the air in an alarming manner.

"She's what???" Snow was circling slowly outside the dark windows of Hogwarts.

"Vittoria is not a what, Severus. She is just like any other child. She needs care and attention." Dumbledore sat calmly in his own office, hands intertwined in front of his face, peering through his half moon spectacles at an alarmed Snape who had just spun on the spot from surprise apprehension. The fire crackled merrily in the fireplace, sending showers of sparks into the air. Fawkes sat on his perch, moving his head to the motion of the fire, transfixed by the sparks.

"Explain it again Dumbledore, I need to clearly understand the situation into which I was blindly thrown."

Dumbledore leaned back in his seat. "As I said before I can only speculate, but I believe that the spell Lily Evans had enacted four years ago," Snape gave an involuntary twitch which manifested itself every time Dumbledore had mentioned her name, "acted as a mirror that made the killing curse rebound on its owner. Her spell was so strong that it pulled apart Voldemort's soul. I believe one of the pieces took the form of the first thing in front of him – a baby."

Severus Snape stared blankly.

"She exhibits some strange powers, I assume."

Snape nodded.

"So Vittoria is a piece of his soul? A Horcrux of types?"

Dumbledore gave him a calculating look that turned into one of concern. "That is a truly dark area of magic. But by definition, a Horcrux is made willingly. Although he killed willingly, I doubt he foresaw that Lily's spell would cause his soul to be ripped apart."

Snape was silent.

"That is why I need you to watch her grow and monitor her progress with magic, for now. But I expect you to present her to Hogwarts when the right time comes. Then both of us will watch her. She cannot help what she is, but she is still a child. Remember that."

"If someone was to kill him… Would she survive?" The silence that followed was interrupted by a screech from Fawkes. Dumbledore walked to the dark window and stared down his hooked nose at his phoenix. The bird looked at him with a steady gaze.

"I'm afraid no one can know, Severus. We can only stab in the dark. It is an unknown field of magic; it is obscured in the shadows to me." He stroked Fawkes' head. "How is she? Making progress?"

Snape stood rooted to the spot until this moment. The gravity of the situation had sunk in. He finally felt the blood flow to in his feet. It wasn't as if he didn't feel something like this coming on. She did exhibit some dark powers that he hadn't seen in a child her age before. He sat down and rubbed his eyes. "She has an advanced grasp of magic for a six year old. She is very curious about it. Sometimes," he paused, looking at Dumbledore who was still at the window, "things she touches explode. But she has learned to move them by magical means."

"And those would be magical things that explode." Dumbledore mused out loud.

"Yes. Almost as if her magic is stronger than the magic in the objects. I have never seen this before in any wizard, young or old."

"I have. But it is too early to speculate Severus – we will have to observe her carefully in the coming years."

"Will you be coming this New Years' Eve? She has been asking about you."

"Of course. I love my New Years' visits with Vittoria."

"Then I will take my leave. Good night."

Dumbledore turned towards him. "Happy Christmas to your family Severus," he said with a smile.

The tail of Snape's traveling cloak whipped out of sight and down the spiral stone staircase. Fawkes cooed softly to Dumbledore, who nodded to him.

* * *

Severus Snape apparated onto his doorstep with a pop. As soon as he raised his hand to the door, he heard a crash. This was not unusual. He was accustomed to coming home to scenes of nasty surprises in his living room. Dumbledore didn't need to know everything that was going on in his house. Vittoria had learned to conjure objects just recently, and was abusing the power as much as she could. Preparing himself for what he was about to see, he heaved a sigh and squared his shoulders, grasped the handle and pulled open the door.

Snape's household had been remodeled since the first day that Vittoria stepped into it with Dumbledore. It now looked as if it was more than just a storage place to stash his numerous books. The rickety furniture had been replaced with pieces geared for more comfort, the fireplace had a roaring fire going, the windows were clean and overall the place looked as if someone was now living there. Everything was in its place, nothing looked broken. Vittoria was sitting on the floor with her back to the fireplace, looking guilty. Snape regarded her with a judging look.

"Hello, Father." 'Father' was her choice, as well as first word she had ever said to him. He was used to it by now.

Vittoria was now a little older. She was smaller than other children her age, but somehow inherited Snape's imposing character. At six years old, she had Snape's perfect and calculated manner of speaking. A month before she had managed to charm Lucius Malfoy in an intelligent conversation so much that he kept sending gifts to their home. He now was inviting them over for his posh family dinners every chance he got. Severus was apprehensive about it, but Dumbledore didn't see the harm in it.

"What did you do?" came a bit rougher than intended. She didn't look intimidated.

"I conjured a sphinx, Father." The surprised look on his face made her giggle. "We've been having the most interesting conversations."

Snape's eyes darted around his living room as he whipped out his wand. "Vittoria, I should not have to tell you how violent and dangerous those creatures are." When he didn't find the sphinx in the living room he walked around the rest of the house. Not finding the beast, he walked back into the living room, where Vittoria sat in a crouch, staring dreamily into the fire.

Listening to him for hours, she enjoyed tales about pirates and treasure, witches and wizards of old that hunted for magical artifacts and creatures. She seemed to have a taste for the grandiose – magical myths of the ancient cultures fascinated her, even at six years old. Sphinxes were her favorite – they seemed smarter than even the wisest wizards. Even though she knew how to read herself, she still pestered him to read to her night and day, grabbing on to anything within reach in excitement as she listened.

"Where is it?"

"She leapt into the fire when she heard you coming," she mused. "She comes to me when I'm bored."

"How long has this been going on?"

She shrugged. It had been going on for awhile. She bounced over to him and threw her little arms around his middle. "Her name is Kalika and she has been telling me riddles and I have been solving them!" she gushed, childlike. Snape regarded her with a dark look, stowing away his wand in his long black robes.

"I cannot annunciate enough how dangerous sphinxes are again, Vittoria. What would have happened if you weren't able to answer one of its riddles?"

She shrugged her shoulders and sidled away. Vittoria abhorred Muggle clothing, refusing to wear nothing but dark colors, mostly black, like her father. She hadn't mastered his fast sweeping walking motion and swishing of the cloak, but she definitely tried. She would spin on the spot grabbing her robes so they would swoosh over the floor trying to mimic his quick and intimidating manner, but most of the time would clumsily fall over. She adored him; when she was younger she would follow him around and observed him while he read. Her love for reading and fascination with potions resulted from watching him work for hours. Severus Snape was taking paid orders for potions since his teenage years at Hogwarts. Vittoria would watch him procure potions until he let her help with the ingredients. She was a very well-behaved and obedient child, Snape always thought. She only acted out when he wasn't there.

He crashed onto the cushy armchair and rubbed his tired eyes. He was accustomed to coming home from his trips to find blast-ended skrewts, exploding snuff-boxes, random flying objects, and contained Fiendfyre flames licking at the floorboards. He hadn't told Dumbledore half of what had happened at home. Any magical object, usually gifts from Lucius Malfoy that he would send over along with invitations would explode as soon as she touched them. He would have to teach her how to control her magic before she got a wand, or the villagers of Spinner's End wouldn't know what hit them. He sighed, breathing out deeply.

It had become entirely too quiet in his living room. He opened one eye, finding Vittoria sitting at his feet, looking up at him, with guilt mirrored in those large dark eyes. He choked back a chuckle.

Raising a child was a lot harder than Dumbledore made it sound.

* * *

Many nights passed with Snape not leaving Vittoria's side. He kept his eyes glued on her every night as she sat on the floor of his living room playing, reading, and looking into the fire. Tonight only one thing was stuck on repeat in Severus Snape's head: the name "Kalika". He kept repeating it over and over in his head like a mantra, not being able to focus on anything else. He had a strange feeling that he had heard it somewhere before but couldn't bring his mind to figure out where. Kalika. Vittoria. Kalika. There had to be some sort of a connection. Sphinxes were mysterious creatures and always spoke of a "bigger purpose". The beast's name made him shiver, as if he was recalling some distant unpleasant memory. He toiled over his numerous books, looking up everything on sphinxes. When he couldn't find very much on the subject, he even dared to look up sphinxes in the children's edition of the Monster Book of Monsters that he had stashed in the bottom-most stack in the furthest corner of his cupboard to prevent an unnecessary massacre of the rest of his books.

Vittoria sensed something odd in her father's movements around their house. She watched him with an intense look of interest, trying to decipher what he was struggling so intently to dig up from the growing heap of books that was forming in the middle of their living room.

Snape had just picked up the Monster Book of Monsters that had been held together by an odd clamp object that she had seen him use in the making of his more complicated potions. The book gave an odd sort of a wiggle as he picked it up. She moved closer to his side, grabbing his upper arm with a curious look on her face, her eyes never leaving the strange book.

"Vittoria," he said sternly as she reached out to touch its' furry cover. "This book contains a magic I have not told you about yet." He grabbed her hand before she could touch it. The look on her tiny face mirrored his thought that taking a children's book away from a child felt wrong. He put the book down and turned to his daughter.

"You and I both know what happens when you touch magical objects." The Sneakoscope shards glinted in the candle light, etched deep into the back wall of the living room around an outline of a head and shoulders. The memory of the incident was still fresh in his mind. Vittoria had tried to play with the small glass object and it had exploded as soon as she touched it. As luck would have it, he happened to be reading to her at that exact moment with his nose in deep in between the pages.

"But Father, why does that happen? Draco Malfoy plays with whatever he wants and…"

"Malfoy is an imbecile. Just last week he got his finger stuck to an old cursed mirror that almost absorbed him and a year ago, when he was your age, he decided to model an antique necklace that was cursed and nearly cost him his life. If I was not at his house at the time he would have died instantly."

Vittoria looked pleased with her father and these news.

"A necklace? A girl's necklace?" Snape turned around and hid the twitch of a smile that had tried to form on his face.

"Now, I want to talk about the magic in imbibed in this book. It is magic that is used to animate, it is nothing more than a child's trick. It is a lower type of magic that you will see used. When you bewitch a broom to do your bidding it doesn't become a magic object, right? Eventually – unless you beckon it to stop – it will run out of magic. In everyday household objects that are bewitched like this book, the magic is just used as a novelty. This book has no life of its own, do you understand?"

"But Father, you told me that all things that had a form in this world had a one existing consciousness that they shared between them."

Snape looked surprised. Those were the exact words that he used when describing the Hindu philosophy, when she didn't understand the words used in the book he was reading to her.

"That was ancient Indian wizarding philosophy." As soon as the words flew out of his mouth, he started. Something in his head had clicked. Kalika. Kalika. Kali? Kali Yuga, the dark age of conflict and short years for humanity; the age after India's divine Krishna was said to have passed on to the afterlife. It was a popularly held belief that Krishna was no ordinary human being. He possessed a type of magic not known in that age. But the name "Kali" did not only stand for the age believed to be the contemporary time.

Then it finally hit him.

* * *

A couple of nights later, Snape cornered the sphinx in Vittoria's room. Or at least that's what the being – Kalika – wanted him to think. Snape entered the room with his wand held aloft, the tip of which was lit and pointed at the reclining sphinx. She laid curled next to Vittoria's bed, her tail swaying to the rhythm of the child's breathing. Vittoria cradled one of her front paws that was at least the size of her own head as she slept. The sphinx's big yellow eyes were fixed on Snape, and her mysterious smile never left her lips.

"You are the Vedic Kali?"

"Yes. But she is also Kali," answered the sphinx indicating Vittoria, "But she is not me."

"Don't speak in riddles to me now, sphinx. I want to know what you are doing in my child's room."

"She is my reincarnated daughter. Kali Ma, the mother and the daughter." Reading the look on Snape's face as one of confusion, she explained further. "Sphinxes do not reproduce; we multiply from an existing conscious being. She is mine, but I did not make her."

Severus Snape's wand was still pointed at the sphinx. This was impossible; the creature must have been speaking metaphorical nonsense. All he could feel was the rhythmic movement of her tail through the air and the melodious purr of her words. It was hypnotizing. He was falling deeper and deeper into his reverie. The Vedas. He tried to remember what he had read about Indian mythology. To his surprise he was easily able to turn the pages of the Vedas in his mind and images flew into his consciousness. Kalika, the eternal abyss, one who destroys time itself. Her name is Kali Ma, and it is her name that matches the dark age of Kali Yuga. An artist's representation of Kali swam into the front folds of his mind. Actually, he remembered, Kali was black, because she represented space, infinite void, that which is before creation, and that which will exist after its ultimate destruction; the fire at the end of time, they called it. There was a necklace of skulls around her neck that symbolized how she cared for souls in the afterlife, not just through one incarnation. Even the funeral pyre she sat on is took the form of the many sins she burned to ash, when she was pleased. Kali is a destroyer, true, but she also destroyed evil. Many of India's greatest saints worshipped her as the Supreme Being. And they say she is easy to please—if one is careful. Severus focused back on the image, and his eyes found the cold dark eyes of the goddess. The power that emanated from them was cosmic. The darkness of her eyes had the pull of a black hole, the grip of the primordial seed that gave birth to the universe. They shone with colors the spectrum has forgotten. Yet they were such beautiful eyes, really, those of an innocent little girl that called him 'Father'. He felt his heart break all over again.

From far away he heard the sphinx's voice, and it was the voice of thunder echoing but also the mere whisper of a Vittoria falling asleep at his feet in the middle of the night. "Behold your child," she said. He looked; he had to keep looking. There were planets, stars, galaxies, and their multitude was seemingly endless. Yet beyond them all, beyond the backbone of the sky, as the Vedas described, lay the funeral pyre. There sat Mother Kali with her lord Kala, who destroyed time itself. He heard her thunderous echoing voice, felt her murderous rage reverberate through his entire being. He felt afraid as he saw the black eyes of Kali morph into a tiny face of his fragile six year old daughter. The shock broke the vision.

"Her presence drew me here; I can feel my being in her. But her essence is not perfect; it is stained with a taint born of the wickedness of your wizarding world. She is not like me." She paused. "Is she of your blood?"

He shook his head to break the trance that was cast over him. "Her background is unknown to me. She was put in my care by Dumbledore." The sphinx nodded her beautiful head in recognition of his name, sending ripples through the silky mane.

"Will she grow up into that? Will she become Kali?"

The beautiful mane shook mournfully, bearing a negative response. "She won't have memories of the original being; but the rest, depends on the strength of her reincarnation. The reincarnation of a sphinx into a human is unusual but not unheard of."

"Who are you really?"

"I am an avatar, a reincarnation of a higher being. I have always been self-aware of my origin. We have been reborn in sphinx form to observe. Do not be afraid, wizard. We do not interfere in your world's affairs."

There was a pause.

"She must never know," said Snape tersely. The sphinx nodded and tugged her paw out of the child's grip. Vittoria stirred in her sleep but did not wake.

* * *

Severus Snape was up and pacing. It was the middle of the night and he didn't see himself being able to sleep anytime soon. Why did things always turn out to make him feel so childish and naïve? Dumbledore had a curious way of doing this while smiling as he proceeded to belittle him. But Dumbledore had no idea… So many thoughts were spinning through his head, he felt himself begin to lose composure. Sphinxes? Indian divinity? Voldemort's fragmented soul? It all just seemed like too much, and all at once.

As he sat in his living room, his head thrown back, staring aimlessly at the ceiling, he felt a desperate longing for Lily. This had happened before, so many times. She was his confidant, his one person in life that he let come into the fold of his trust. Within the last months of her life, she had finally forgiven him and it seemed as if he had gotten his best friend back. They had written to each other, and it didn't even bother him that Potter knew of this correspondence. Lily was the source of his strength, even after her death. His prior allegiance to Voldemort provided him neither trust nor personal comfort. There was nothing in his life that gave him comfort, let alone release. Even as Dumbledore said the words that he forgave him, Snape felt like he was looked down upon. He didn't feel anything anymore. It was all just too much.

It seemed as though the dark forces were starting to stir up again, four years after the supposed death of the Dark Lord. His fellow Death Eaters, the ones that escaped the grasp of Azkaban by selling the each others' names and pledging their allegiance to the Ministry, had began to meet again under the pretext of Lucius Malfoy's posh parties and dances. Rumors were flying of the Dark Lord's presence in the forests of Albania, but Snape was skeptical. Dumbledore was more receptive to these rumors; Aurors were still searching for Voldemort in many countries, but the lack of his presence was disheartening. He himself would still have to scour the deep forest to quell the request of Dumbledore. He would have to leave for awhile again; Vittoria wouldn't be happy. He could see her tiny reproachful face as he told her that she would have to stay with the Malfoys again.

Narcissa Malfoy had taken a particular like to Vittoria – it seemed as if she wanted a daughter, but gotten a pretty boy instead. They treated her well – believing that she was his pure blood daughter. One night, when Vittoria was only three years old, Lucius had cornered him in his study and interrogated him of Vittoria's bloodline. The far-sighted Dumbledore had provided Snape the necessary excuse beforehand; he supposedly had a brief affair with a witch while visiting pure-blood allies in Durmstrang on Voldemort's orders. This was actually the truth; he had had paid a visit to the Scandinavian region and had a brief affair with a witch from a prominent Russian wizarding family, but no child resulted from it. The witch had disappeared within a year after the affair and provided him a perfect excuse for Vittoria's appearance in his life. The Malfoys as well as other Voldemort sympathizers took Vittoria in and treated her as their own. This worried Snape. He still had to come up with a way to let Vittoria know that they were not the kind of people he would want her to put her trust in.

He tried to push the thought of the sphinx out of his head but it just bullied his other thoughts out of the way and wouldn't budge as hard as he tried. It was as though the creature didn't possess any ill will towards his daughter. She could potentially be a good influence on her – even though sphinxes didn't interfere in the wizarding world. The question was clear to him: should he tell Dumbledore?

* * *

* * *

Not for the first time, Vittoria stood dutifully by her father's side at the atrium of the Malfoy manor, head hung low in reluctant obedience. The night before, Snape had told her that he would be going away again for awhile.

"Come, Vittoria. I rather enjoy your visits with my family, and I know Draco does too," said Lucius Malfoy graciously holding his arms out and inviting the slightly reluctant Vittoria into his embrace. His cold gray eyes sparkled in the candle light. "Your father has business that he has to attend to and I have the pleasure of having your company once again."

It truly was remarkable, thought Severus, how these ex-Death Eaters took to his child. True, he was old school friends with Lucius Malfoy and his old gang of Slytherins, but he had never expected to have him babysit his own daughter. But this had become a ritual; Snape did not like Vittoria to be alone while he was off traveling on Dumbledore's orders, and the Malfoys fancied her so much that she enjoyed an open invitation to the manor whenever she wanted. Snape did not ask and Vittoria did not tell him whether she had liked staying at the manor or not, but he had seen the slight hesitation with which she had agreed to come. He had hoped his coaching would wipe this out as she got older. Malfoy went as far as to offer him one of his posh properties but Snape had thought that it would attract too much publicity and raise questions against the reformed ex-Death Eater role that he fed to the Ministry these days.

"I will be back within the week, Lucius. This will be a short trip." Lucius Malfoy nodded. He caught her eyes. "Behave," he said pointedly.

The six year-old snickered. "Yes, Father," she said, hugging his middle. Before he could react a door was flung open with a loud bang and Draco Malfoy came bounding down the stairs two steps at a time. Vittoria unclasped her hands around Snape and tried to compose a happy face. "Uncle Lucius, may we go play?" As soon as she received a positive answer she chased the descending Malfoy back up the stairs and out of sight.

As soon as he heard the door slam, Lucius's eyes turned on Snape. "Still living in that Muggle hovel?"

"No one bothers us there, Lucius. A 'Muggle hovel' is good for ah… discretion."

"So you did not reconsider my offer?"

"I will not relinquish my position at Hogwarts. In case larger things happen, I will be in a clear position to…" his voice trailed off, his eyes sparkling. "And your generous offer is just too generous for me. I hope Vittoria will still be able to enjoy your company?"

"Well of course. Narcissa fancies her more than our own blood relatives and Draco treats her better than anyone else his own age. I just thought that a wizard of your caliber would want to live in a less scum-infested place."

"It is not my financial inability that keeps me there, rather the convenience."

Vittoria staying at the Malfoys' posed a very big problem for Snape. Her inability to touch magical things without explosions attracted attention and questions. Because she wasn't trained to control magic yet, her own magic exploded out of her as soon as she touched objects possessing lower forms of magic, resulting in accidents. This was dangerous, and he had to figure out a fail-safe way to keep objects from combusting; for now – the child would have to refrain from touching anything and everything at the Malfoy home.


End file.
